Ballot opens for UCU members to vote on latest proposals

FULL ARTICLE

In the latest development in the pensions dispute, members of the Universities and Colleges Union are voting on whether to accept the latest proposals to emerge from talks between the Union and Universities UK.

The ballot opened today (Wednesday 4th April) and will close on Friday 13th of April. Details of the agreement can be found here .

The General Secretary of the UCU, Sally Hunt, has issued a message to members setting out how far the Union has come during strikes and negociations with employers. She stressed that the pulling of proposals to change pensions from defined benefit to defined contributions represented a considerable victory for the Union.

If members accept the new proposals, the strikes, currently scheduled to cause maximum disruption by affecting exam and assessment period, will be suspended.

However, if the new proposals are rejected the strikes will continue into Summer and possibly into the 2018/19 academic year.

Hunt said "In January the employers refused to negociate with us and were going to impose massively inferior pensions for members of the USS pension scheme. These latest proposals were won by the solid action of UCU members and it is right for them to have their say on what happens next.

"If members accept these proposals then the action for later this term will be suspended. If they reject them then there will be 14 more days of action before the Summer and then a fresh ballot to keep action running in the new academic year".

Epigram will report on the results of the ballot as soon as we have them.